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Alys is not on the council, but she is her line representative as of fifty years ago. She hears about the news.
She wonders whether Piro is likely to have contacted his son, even about this.
She decides that it is worth checking, and calls her brother-in-law.
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"The dragon council wants you. Someone dropped a shren on their meeting. You get to be the second non-dragon non-thudia on the island, aren't you honored?" says Jensal.
Narax reports his findings. The council is puzzled and concerned. He starts trying to break the spells, although this is a laborious process of trial and error which doesn't do anything right away.
Narax reports his findings. The council is puzzled and concerned. He starts trying to break the spells, although this is a laborious process of trial and error which doesn't do anything right away.
nonbird
"Eep!" says Lazarus.
Now he is in the council chamber.
"...eep," says Lazarus.
"I'm going to assume you're the miracle worker who can see magic," says Piro.
"Eep? I mean yes! Yes I am."
Lazarus blinks at the shren, momentarily at a loss for words.
He has plenty of spare eights - there, she's not a shren anymore, that's one problem solved - oh yes - "I made shrenhood stop being contagious the day I arrived, but then I got caught up in saving the magic-deficient babies and forgot to tell anyone," he says for the benefit of any curious dragons who might be listening.
Piro snorts.
Now he is in the council chamber.
"...eep," says Lazarus.
"I'm going to assume you're the miracle worker who can see magic," says Piro.
"Eep? I mean yes! Yes I am."
Lazarus blinks at the shren, momentarily at a loss for words.
He has plenty of spare eights - there, she's not a shren anymore, that's one problem solved - oh yes - "I made shrenhood stop being contagious the day I arrived, but then I got caught up in saving the magic-deficient babies and forgot to tell anyone," he says for the benefit of any curious dragons who might be listening.
Piro snorts.
"Thank you," mutters Keo.
"Can you by any chance miracle your way through all these spells on her?" Narax asks. "They're not expertly constructed, but there's enough of them that even if I work on it all week I might not be able to get through each one."
"Can you by any chance miracle your way through all these spells on her?" Narax asks. "They're not expertly constructed, but there's enough of them that even if I work on it all week I might not be able to get through each one."
nonbird
"Yes," he says. "I'm just - slightly stunned by the amount of the thing that happens when you don't fly that she has. Oh, but Keo is here with her mildly alarming mind magic, hello Keo, thank you for whatever you did about that. She's not a shren anymore, in case I am the only person here who can tell by looking. Um. Let me just think about the best way to miracle through all those spells, goodness whoever came up with all this is a nasty customer... someone should probably inform Libby, this is the sort of development Libby would like to be informed of, I will do it when I leave if no one else has by then. Oh goodness."
"The esu is still technically there," Keo says. "Just not experienced. It doesn't seem to have helped very much."
nonbird
"Yes. I observe that it is there. She - perhaps you can tell with your mildly alarming amount of mind magic, but she doesn't seem to be using her language ability for anything," he says. "It's just sitting there. It works, but it's not in use the way all of yours are whenever you speak or hear words. I am a magic-seeing person, not a brains-seeing person, so I have no particular insight into why that is."
A six suffices to undo the various spells.
"There, now she isn't paralyzed or insistently spy-shielded or all the rest. Of course, she isn't fed, either, so someone is going to have to put that one back or teach her how to eat soonish. How to fly, too, for that matter. I am very uncomfortable about the fact that someone did all this to a person."
A six suffices to undo the various spells.
"There, now she isn't paralyzed or insistently spy-shielded or all the rest. Of course, she isn't fed, either, so someone is going to have to put that one back or teach her how to eat soonish. How to fly, too, for that matter. I am very uncomfortable about the fact that someone did all this to a person."
"She may have just been - very distracted," murmurs Keo. Hello? she ventures.
nonbird
She gets back a rich and multilayered confusion, lit with some close cousin of hope. The shren is sort of vague on the concept of people, but on a very basic level she is highly enthusiastic about even the faint wisp of a notion that another person might exist and want to interact with her in a non-agonizing way.
Lazarus is still peering worriedly at her.
Lazarus is still peering worriedly at her.
Can you talk? Keo inquires.
??? I ???
talk?
what
talk?
what
There were some spells on you keeping you from moving, but you should be able to open your mouth and speak, now.
The former shren... makes some sounds. They are not especially wordlike. After a few attempts she progresses to recognizable phonemes arranged in no sensible order, and then after some mumbling along those lines she utters her first words:
"Why doesn't it hurt?"
"Why doesn't it hurt?"
"I've blocked it off temporarily with magic," Keo says, "but to make it go away permanently you need to fly. You should be able to do that now."
"Fly?"
"Flap your wings and move around through the air. You're also going to need to eat."
She makes some more nonlinguistic mumbly sounds and tries to figure out voluntary body movements. Flop wriggle.
After that's gone on for a few ticks Keo shoves body-memory at her.
"Oh!"
She's still a little shaky - some pieces are missing on the level of knowing what to want to do, even though she can now accomplish it all with reasonable proficiency - but she manages to get all four feet under her, and flap her wings, and give an awkward little jump and flap a few more times, and then have no idea what to do next and stop moving and crash into the ground.
"Like that?"
She's still a little shaky - some pieces are missing on the level of knowing what to want to do, even though she can now accomplish it all with reasonable proficiency - but she manages to get all four feet under her, and flap her wings, and give an awkward little jump and flap a few more times, and then have no idea what to do next and stop moving and crash into the ground.
"Like that?"
"You're going to have to stay in the air a little longer."
"Oh..."
Mumbling nonverbally to herself, she tries again. Flap hop flap flap flap - the esu lifts - flap flap graceless crash.
Mumbling nonverbally to herself, she tries again. Flap hop flap flap flap - the esu lifts - flap flap graceless crash.
"That did it."
"Okay."
Piro mutters something under his breath.
"What?" says the ex-shren.
"Nothing."
"Your voice is different," she observes.
Piro mutters something under his breath.
"What?" says the ex-shren.
"Nothing."
"Your voice is different," she observes.
"...He's a separate person from me," Keo says, after realizing what the miracle means.
"Oh. ...There's more people?" she asks, beginning to be excited. "How many?"
"...Here, or everywhere?"